


Davekat Valentine's day fluff

by optimisticDuelist (lasciviousWildheart)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-31 13:20:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10900179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lasciviousWildheart/pseuds/optimisticDuelist
Summary: What it says on the tin. This is a fic drabble I wrote ages ago for a valentine's day fic exchange and now I finally get to post it! Dave and Karkat experiencing a first-time human romance holiday. Hope you enjoy :3





	Davekat Valentine's day fluff

The frown was just default. The tired, weary, profoundly annoyed sneer--now muddled with confusion--was so familiar and usual you saw it in your dreams often lately. The better ones.

It made no sense at all for your heart to skip a beat, for your hands to tighten and for the pallid, damp chill of the meteor to feel like it dropped a full ten degrees lower on your back. It made no sense to hear more than see your Bro flashing into existence somewhere behind you, to feel the weight of the shades behind you and reflected in the deep black pits of Karkat’s eyes all at the same time. 

You knew Karkat better than you knew yourself, it was starting to feel like. And what you knew about Karkat Vantas above all else was that he was the fucking ooziest, globbiest, grossest, sickly sweetest glob of sap ever to flow out from the thick, rigid insides of a--

Anyway. There was no way he wouldn’t go fucking bananas for this heartfelt fucking Valentine’s shit, and you were an idiot to doubt it as he took the red heart-shaped box out of your hands and left them holding nothing but clammy sweat. Didn’t stop you from worrying regardless. 

The sound of cans clattering to the floor somewhere down the hallway. Sounded like the Mayor was keeping busy, so that was good. Tick tock tick tock tick tock. The seconds felt interminable.  
Karkat holding the box, looking at you quizzically, smoothly and competently--yet delicately--opening it’s contents, giving you a look only more puzzled and inquisitive than the last, looking into the box again, Rose had stressed how important timing and patience was with these things but this was taking forever and--

“Uh you don’t have to use it if you don’t wanna, I just figured you were talkin about how you had pretty bad nightmares sometimes and I figured this way you could call me up if you needed to and--”

“Oh.” He said. A beat. “So its for me?” He ventured, his voice loud and sharp but not altogether bothered. As he reached inside and pulled the purple wristband with the crab on one end, he sounded curious, maybe even...Pleased? Mostly, though, he sounded confused. 

“Uh. Yeah, I mean. Obviously. It's Valentine's day.” You heard yourself mutter. “Also I, like, literally handed it to you. In a box with a ribbon on it. I know you know what human presents are, come on, we had the conversation about how fucked and tragic trolls were for not--”

“YES Dave! I know all about human presents, thanks.” Karkat snapped. “Its just the timing threw me off, is all. I thought this practice was reserved for, like, wriggling days. And the wriggling day of the fat bearded rabbit fairy deity which STILL sounds like utter bullshit to me no matter what you say because no civilization could be QUITE absurd enough to…” He pulled his sleeve back and wrapped the band of the speaker crab around his sleeve, moving in rough motions that distracted you from the pleasant hammering of his voice, even if it was reminding you you were giving John a good run for his money for that ‘Best prankster in Paradox Space’ title. 

The way Karkat moved was appealing, in a way you still weren't used to. Something about the way he touched made you wonder how people went about asking to be touched--how one bridged the distance. 

Shit, that was right. There'd been a question buried in that rant of his, and he was waiting. “Oh. Well, yeah, you're mostly right. Valentine's day isn't supposed to be like, a presents day, really, you can just get one if you feel like it. It's supposed to be, uh…”

Karkat waited, expectantly, as the Strider tongue rolled up and died in your mouth. A beat, two, and if your silence didn't get the message across then your blushing sure did, because Karkat's eyes went wide and darted between you and the speaker crab he was now wearing, red flaring to life in answer from his own cheeks. Cute... your brain thought despite you, almost as if to rub it in your face how gay you were for this fucking grouchy ass alien boy. 

Meeting his eyes was as hard as avoiding them--either way, you felt aflame and electric. Like you could use a towel. “So it's...a like, courtship ritual?” Karkat said, half a stammer. His fingers brushed lightly over the speaker crabs’ surface, more gentle than you were used to seeing him move. His eyes fixed you to the floor. 

“Is this some sorta like...Branding thing? Like to be like, step off assholes, this one's mine? Is that what I got tricked into wearing?” He asked, his rant clearly going for suspicious. But you were getting to know Karkat well, and you thought you could dare to hope that was genuine enjoyment in his eyes. The frown was less pronounced than usual. 

“N-no. Well, I mean. Not exactly. It doesn't gotta be, I mean. Who would even ask? Crabs are your thing, bro.” You said, when what you really wanted to say wasn't something you had the words for, just a skip in your heart hearing him voice the question but make no move to remove it regardless. You had no idea why that made you so happy. You were a fucked up kid.

You pulled back your own sleeve, revealing your own wristband--soft, plush ass. Karkat's face wrinkled in disdain all over. “They're like, um. Walkie talkies, kinda. I figured this way you could like, call me or whatever, if you had a nightmare or something? So...We match.”

Karkat hummed, deep in his throat. He looked at you, skepticism softening. “A walky talky.” He echoed, the bite in his voice making the human words sound as dumb as they deserved to. 

You couldn't help the small smirk that curved your lips as you answered. “Yup.”

“That name sounds like complete bullshit, you know. Like what these things should be called to make fun of them, on account of how stupid it is.”

“Yup.” You echoed, and if you were grinning now, well hey--so was he.

“This is pretty cool, Dave. I l...I like it a lot. Thanks.” He said, his voice that rarest of Karkat tones: soft enough to leave your ears drumming instead of ringing. As good as a whisper by anyone else’s standards. 

“Aweso--” you started, but he cut you off with the sharpest frown in a while.

“You should've told me this was a thing, though, you asshole.” He snapped, tossing his arms to the side. Uh oh, he was flailing. Karkat Vantas’ Bullshittery Rantometer had risen high now, and he was in the throes of a full blown fuss. “Now I feel like shit! How am I supposed to do this boyfriend's thing right if I don even get filled in on all the relevant logistics!? You get me this stupid lousy heartfelt gift, and I don't get to do squat? How's that fair!?” 

“Oh. Shit.” You grimaced as he grasped for air and sat down onto the steps, leaning into the wall, exhausted by his fussy tantrum. You followed suit, sitting close, but not enough to touch. “Sorry. It wasn't like I planned to leave you out of the loop, or anything. It was just…”

It had been almost a year of you two dancing around each other like this, now. Touching, but only just. Coming close, but only sometimes. Acting practically as though those moments didn't happen the rest of the time. “It was kinda hard enough to even think of me doing a Valentine's thing, is all. I never even imagined a girl getting me anything for Valentine's, so...To have you do it all of a sudden, to basically ASK you to by letting you know…”

You shrugged. Karkat's eyes thrummed, black shifting to deep red for a moment, so subtle anyone but you would have missed it. “Too much?” He ventured, his voice almost gentle. 

You nodded. “Too much.” 

How far you'd both come. This was getting easy, you realized with a small sense of wonder. At least, in a way. Your pulse raced in your chest, down your arms and into your hands and down your legs and it was such an effort to try not to look at him. He was making no such attempt, and you knew he knew something was up already, he was just waiting for you to advance it instead of prying you open.

(You could think of some things you'd like him prying open)

Stupid lousy goddamn patient and attentive boyfriend. What a royal pain in the poker face. 

“You know, though. If you, uh, wanted to do something. There is something.” You said, and your hand was definitely not shaking, no nope not in any way at all were you shivering in the cool air of the meteor and your own gross, weenie sweat.

“You don't say.” Karkat said flatly, amused and deconstructive, in a tone and gesture that you were pretty sure he was deliberately designing to echo Rose. 

“I mean. There uh...Could Be. Maybe. If you wanted.” You continued. Karkats snide, teasing smile was turning into a grin, and his eyebrows had disappeared beneath his hair line. 

“Yeah?” He pressed, and Jesus fuck his voice sounded almost sultry, like he was seducing--

And all at once, it was too much. “Nah actually,” you deflected, badly. Karkats eyebrows, somehow, went even higher--now in concern as well as surprise. “I was gonna say we should, like. Watch con air and make notes on how shitty it is to hit John with when we meet up, but then I thought better of it. You'll thank me for it later, that movie is really way too fucking shitty.”

“Oh.” Karkat said, and damn him he has even doing a good job of hiding his dissapointment and curiosity. Why couldn't he just be a little less than perfect for like, a minute? Fucking Christ. “Well. Alright, no biggie. Whatever you want.” He said, eyes on your hand. If he could tell you were trembling, he was being polite about it.

Your breath and stability came back quickly enough, at least, as you backed away from the edge. Some questions--some words--you just couldn't get your body to speak yet, even if big parts of you wanted to say them. All you were left with now, though, was frustration and a feeling of emptiness. Of something fulfilling, forsaken.

You sat there in the quiet together, Karkat waiting for you to collect yourself enough to go back to whatever the two of you pretended was normal for now, in the endless chaos of your lives. You thought of synonyms for coward in your head. Rose would know some good ones for rhymes, you bet. 

“You know,” you started, not even sure what you were going to say. “Another shitty thing about human romance?” Ah. Ripping on society. Societies. The old standby.

“Yeah?” Karkat asked. You leaned back into the step, resting your back on it. 

“The way the stories set it up, the boy’s supposed to do everything.” You said. “Doesn't really matter what the couple's like, personalities or preferences or even socioeconomic backgrounds is or anything. There's like, this whole script for it, you know? It’s not JUST how you’re supposed to date exactly a category of people, it’s also like...there’s this whole structured song and dance to how the actual, like...courtship goes down.”

Karkat looked as disgusted as he did puzzled, which you appreciated. “Yeah. I mean, I can’t really wrap my head around couching all of that on like, gender, but...I guess I get it? There’s scripts for this stuff on Alternia, too, and I’m…” he shrugged. “Not exactly following those, either.”  
“Yeah.” You said. Awkward silence filled in the air between you, splitting open your dry lips. “On Earth it was supposed to be like. Always the guy who makes the next move, you know? He’s supposed to be the one to go in for like...you know, the Next Level with. All the...uh...physical...stuff.”

You could pretty much feel yourself turning into a sun. You couldn’t make yourself turn towards Karkat, but that was fine--he was glowing bright enough you could tell you weren’t the only one, so that was good. You were growing to really love that troll bioluminescence shit. “The, uh. The physical stuff.” He repeated, dull and slow. 

“Yeah but so anyway,” you said, too fast and too high to your own ears. “Where I was going with that is, I liked that about Jade I think.” You said. Jade and John were ghosts between you, like Karkat’s old friends. Had it really been two years already?

Karkat stilled at her name. “Oh. Yeah?” He prodded, his voice unreadable for once. You shifted. He looked curious, ready to listen and genuine about it--just like always. But there was something...something else there, too.

“Yeah. Just that she didn't...I mean not that we were like that or anything, I don't have a clue what she thought of things really. But she didn't care about any of that, you know? She was the one who got us trading music, she was the first out of all of us to send a picture of herself...Jade was never shy about any of that.”

“And when we met up on LOFAF, she like...She didn't even think about it, you know? She hugged me and grabbed at me and pulled me places and it didn't matter how cool I looked or anything. And it was...Fun. Nice, I guess. Not even like romantically, necessarily. Just...It was nice to feel like someone wanted me close by. That they weren't scared of showing it. You know?”

He knew. You knew how he felt about Terezi well enough that you knew he knew. And he knew that, too. And the nice thing (one of the many nice things) about Karkat was he never really hesitated when he knew what to do.

He was warm. His sweater was scratchy and uncomfortable but that was only after years of being spoiled rotten by your literally divine pajamas, and the benefit of having his arm suddenly around you and drawn taut was enough that you weren't complaining. 

“Thank God.” You murmured into his chest. “'was gettin’ worried I'd have to actually, like. Ask or something.”

“Unconscionable.” Karkat answered sarcastically. His hand felt big and rough and firm on your shoulder, and a morbid voice in your head cheerfully suggested this was the perfect way to die. 

You were inclined to agree. But neither of you were dying. For a moment, you were sure of that. You were done with dying for good. 

“Happy human Valentine's day.” You called from your spot on Karkat’s chest. “What do you think so far?” 

“I'm gonna say this is the best human holiday you've shown me yet.” He said. 

You hoped he could feel you smiling, even if you weren't ready to let him see it just yet.


End file.
